Friday, April 10, 2009

Pens beat up on Islanders


(Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)

The Pens beat the Islanders 6-1 last night. The game started out pretty slow and with the Islanders getting the first goal about five minutes into the game. The Pens didn't let themselves stay down for too long though. With a little less than six minutes left in the the first, Phillippe Boucher scored the Pens' first goal with assists going to Malkin and Fedotenko. You wouldn't think Boucher was out for so long seeing him in this game.

The second saw two more Pens goals in the first half of the second period. Dupuis had a goal around four minutes into the second to put the Pens up 2-1. About five minutes later, Matt Cooke would make the score 3-1. Kennedy and Staal received the assists on this goal and Staal made a beautiful pass to Cooke for the score. After the goal, Cooke could be seen telling Staal he made a great pass. The Islanders would get a 5-on-3 power play that was killed by the Pens. Garon made some really great saves at the end of the period to keep the score 3-1.

(Getty)

Four minutes into the third period, the Islanders would get yet another 5-on-3 power play that would once again be killed by the Pens. With 8:52 left in the period Bill Guerin would score a goal against his former team to make the score 4-1. Sidney Crosby would get the only assist. Not long after that the Pens would get a power play in which Gonchar would score. malkin and Crosby got the assists to make the game 5-1. With 3:02 left in the game, kennedy would add on another goal to make the game 6-1. Kennedy's goal was awesome and he made a nice move. Game over, Pens win.

After the game the Pens did their annual "shirts off our backs" promotion. For those who may not know what this is, fans are randomly chosen to receive the jersey off the back of one of the Pens, which they then sign. We definitely wish we could have been in on that, it's a great gesture by the team to reward their loyal fans.

Here is Geno, Sid, and Letang:



Last night was also the annual awards ceremony, including the "Good Guy" award and MVP. You can watch all of it here:



Geno's interview with Dan Potash:



His English is great and he looks great after a haircut. On Alexander Ovechkin not getting any points tonight and him having a four point lead on him in points, "it's great news." Said with a smile. We couldn't have said it any better ourselves. How can you not love the guy?

Something else you can get in on would be the Penguins Beard-a-thon where you are encouraged to "grow one for the team." It is intended to raise money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. You can participate by growing a beard, pledging someone you know, or pledging one of the participating Pens players. We find this to be a great idea for some fun and helping out a charity. If any guys or guys you know are going to participate in this and you want us to call attention to you or them, let us know, we'd love to help and view all the great beards. Go here to check out the website.







The Pens' last game of the regular season will be Saturday against the Canadiens in Montreal. Could be a game that really matters when it comes to the playoff seeding. We can't believe the regular season only has one game left. Where did it go?

Go Pens!


One thing on the Steelers. They have offered Byron Leftwich a two-year deal. He visted with the Tampa Bay Bucs yesterday.

2 comments:

Itchy said...

Last night's game was of course a great one but midway through the third, I just started to feel bad for the Islanders. A win is a win though and last night was a good one.

My favorite goal of the evening was Bill Guerin's off a Crosby assist. He poked that puck in there and then sort of turned around with what I would describe as a completely grateful look on his face as Crosby skated over to him. Guerin has really found a new home in Pittsburgh and I for one am glad.

Unknown said...

Awesome! Thanks Molly and Faceoffs-and-First-Downs for the episode! It is really funny. Also many thanks for providing the videos of last night's before and after game activities. I could see the game on MSG but not these good stuff.
Garon had a decent game, but he didn't seem to be as flexible as MAF. At one point after he split his legs to make a save, he had a little difficulty getting back up immediately so he had to stay down, which amused me. I think it actually happened several times during the game.